TEL AVIV, March 15, 2010 (WAFA)- The Israeli army has declared the West Bank villages of Bil'in and Ni'lin a 'closed military area' until August 17, it emerged Monday, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

In arresting a demonstrator on Friday, police cited a military edict closing off the two villages, where weekly protests against the  Israel is erecting around the West Bank have often turned violent.

Bil'in residents told Haaretz that late on Friday night dozens of soldiers, some of them masked, deployed throughout the village to post notices of the order, signed on February 17 by the chief of army Central Command, Gen. Avi Mizrahi.

 The ruling, which will stay in force six months, applies to land that lies between the separation fence and built up areas in Bil'in.

In Ni'lin, restrictions apparently cover the entire village, including residential areas.

For over five years the two villages have seen often violent, and twice fatal, clashes between activists and security forces during regular Friday demonstrations.

In the past year the Israeli army and the security service, Shin Bet, have tried a variety of tactics to end the protests, including mass arrests, night operations, restrictions on the movement of Israeli activists and the arrest of minors - prompting a military court to declare the measures inappropriate.